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College of the Building Arts’ Red Party goes Gatsby

By Olivia Pool

Special to The Post and Courier

Oct 23 2013 10:15 am

The Old City Jail on Magazine Street was built in 1802 and has undergone various incarnations as a sick ward, lunatic asylum, prison and site of executions. On Friday, it will hold the Red Party, put on by the American College of the Building Arts. File/staff

The American College of the Building Arts’ annual Red Party is one you don’t want to miss.

Taking place Friday night at Old City Jail, the college’s main campus, the event promises a great time that also raises money for the school.

The theme this year? The Great Gatsby, of course. So get your tassels, sequins, boas and bow ties ready!

The Roaring ’20s theme will feature live swing and jazz music, vintage cars, silent and live auctions, specialty food and drinks, a croquet lawn party lounge and a private VIP speakeasy.

Guests will get complimentary champagne from Wine Awesomeness and libations created by some of Charleston’s top bartenders competing in a signature cocktail contest using Epic vodka, Pama Pomegranate Liqueur or Larceny bourbon, says Jonah Jetter, a publicist with the Beckett Agency.

Of course, the auctions are a huge part of the event and they will be using a new text-bidding method so guests can still mingle while being alerted if they need to up their bids.

Some of this year’s top items include a football signed by Pittsburgh Steelers Maurkice Pouncey, Jarvis Jones, Sean Spence and Vince Williams; one week at a home in the French hamlet of Poumeroux; a Charleston harbor cruise for up to 20 on the tall ship Pride; and a limited edition Le Creuset Mariner Star oven designed by the students of the American College of the Building Arts.

The party will start at 7 p.m. for general admission and at 6:30 p.m. for VIPs. Tickets for general admission are $70 in advance, $90 at the door, and include two complimentary drink tickets. VIP tickets are $150 and include early entry, a private garden lounge, a speakeasy bar area, specialty hors d’oeuvres and four drink tickets. There also will be a cash bar.

‘Invisible Labors’

This collection of mixed-media work by artist Camela Guevara is some of the best I’ve seen in a long time here in Charleston. It’s fresh, it’s new, it’s abstract, and it’s interesting.

Titled “Invisible Labors,” this body of work will be up for one night only, 6-8:30 p.m. Friday at Christophe Artisan Chocolatier.

“ ‘Invisible Labors’ is a continued exploration of traditional methods of adornment and the distillation of embellishment to the simplest forms,” says the artist.

She also states that one of the reasons she creates is to keep her hands busy but also create stillness in her mind through the process.

She has a unique fascination with tedious work and the things that come of that.

These works are created by stretching the surface, adding dye (which she says forces her to “accept randomness and surrender control as it expands and grows”), and then she embellished the piece with beads.

Guevara does so many interesting things, it would certainly be appropriate to call her a “Renaissance woman.” She is a Redux studio artist, a seamstress at the Charleston Garment Manufactory, a founding member of the One Love Design House and a founding member of Charleston Supported Art, a new organization that seeks to directly connect artists to patrons through the agricultural CSA model.

She is also one half of the fashion and music blog, Gemsounds.com, and probably 15 other things we don’t know about yet.

‘Beauty and the Beast’

This fall, bring your loved ones to share in the enjoyment of the Charleston County School of the Arts vocal department’s production of “Beauty and the Beast.”

“It’s a ‘tale as old as time’ in this classic fairytale ... in a French provincial town, the lovely Belle (played by Abigail Floyd) rebuffing the advances of egotistical Gaston (Ethan Courville) finds herself prisoner in an enchanted castle and learns to love the cold-hearted Beast (Jess Rames),” says the school’s marketing director, Rebekah King.

It’s always impressive to see what these students can do. More than 200 middle and high school students will put together this production with colorful costumes, an amazing set and songs that everyone knows and loves.

“Following the tremendous success of last year’s ‘Les Miserables,’ a completely sung-through operetta, is daunting but I believe this show will do it,” says director Heather Hammond.

“Beauty and the Beast” will be performed Thursday through Nov. 2. A special Kids’ Tea Party for ages 8 and under with the cast of characters will follow all matinee performances.

Adult tickets are $15; students, children, seniors and groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets for $10; Tea Party tickets are $5.

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